- Promises the partial privatization of CT scans. This will be done as a pay-for-private-services system that will exist alongside the public system. For every scan provided privately, the clinic providing the scan must provide one scan to a person on the public wait list. (1)
- Promises to reduce health administration costs by $7.5 million and put these funds toward more front-line staff in long-term care facilities. This 5% spending reduction will be put toward 30 Registered Nurses, 30 Licensed Practical Nurses, and 35 Continuing Care aides, or 140 new Continuing Care aides. (1)
- Pledges to expand the Remote Presence Medical Robotic Technology project to more communities in the north through a funding increase of $500,000 annually. (1)
- Promises to increase funding to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to aid the incorporation of vision loss rehabilitation into Saskatchewan’s health system. (1)
- Commits to extending job protection for palliative care leave under the Saskatchewan Employment Act to 26 weeks (up from 16 weeks, unpaid) over a one-year period. This is intended to complement changes to federal Employment Insurance that extended benefits to 26 weeks for palliative care leave as of January 2016. (1)
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- Promises to repurpose one of the government’s three Executive Air airplanes for the Air Ambulance program. (2)
- Pledges to cut the Lean program, which intends to reduce waste in the public sector and especially in health care. This cut is expected to save $82 million over four years. (2)
- Commits to fixing and expanding hospitals and care homes, making proper use of under-utilized facilities, and building new ones where needed. (2)
- Promises more long-term care and hospice spaces, increased supports for home care services, and more palliative care services and specialists. (2)
- Commits to hiring 25 nurse practitioners for emergency rooms, establishing a Fast-Track system, improving front-line patient flow, and opening Extended-hour Quick Care Clinics to reduce wait times. This is expected to reduce urgent care wait times of 30 minutes and emergency care wait times of 15 minutes by December 2018, followed by one-hour wait times for non-urgent care by December 2019. (2)
- Pledges to improve mental health service by providing coverage for children and youth (up to 8 counselling sessions per year), creating two mental health clinics, and hiring more mental health workers to work with police in urban areas and in northern Saskatchewan. (2)
- Promises to reduce rural barriers to health through the development of a Rural Health Strategy, including minimizing the gap between urban and rural ambulance fees and improving accessibility in underserviced regions. (2)
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- Opposes the creation of private MRI clinics. (3)
- Pledges to adopt the recommendations of the 2015 Saskatchewan Advisory Group on Poverty to prioritize disease prevention and health promotion, target these initiatives to communities with high rates of poverty, and commit resources to community-based organizations for a more community-oriented health model. (3)
- Promises to provide subsidies and a 24-hour RN nursing station (staffed by the local health region) to all private companies that incorporate a minimum of 25% of their care beds to Level 2 senior care, and to build these companies’ affiliation with the health region to ensure a minimum standard of care. (3)
- Pledges to review the Lean system in health care. (3)
- Commits to strengthening health region leadership, increasing CEO accountability, reduce emergency room wait times, and consult with health care workers to restore public confidence in the healthcare system. (3)
- Promises to increase access to midwifery services (3)
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- Promises to make doctors salaried, rather than the current per-service model used throughout Canada. (4)
- Pledges to eliminate ambulance fees instead paying for them through Medicare. (4)
- Promises to expand the provincial drug plan to cover all citizens, cover all drugs, and lower the cost to citizens to $15 per prescription. (4)
- Commits to expanding provincial Medicare to cover dental, optical, and other uninsured services including alternative therapies. (4)
- Will define “timely access” to health care services. (4)
- Promises to ensure all women have adequate access to midwives, and will create a midwifery review board to regulate, license, and review midwives’ performance. Midwifery will be covered by Medicare. (4)
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